Beware!  IEDefender is back and they have brought a new child into the world.  Malware Bell, the newest offering from this company that has a long history of nasty rogue anti-spyware programs, manages to get onto your computer via the infamous routes of Trojan virus piggy-back – usually the virus called Zlob – or through fake codecs for your computer system.  Additionally, Malware Bell reads PCTools as adware and malware.  As we all know, PCTools is a registered and legitimate computer security and registry software program. 

Typically the trial version of this program will load itself onto your computer system and then begin popping up messages stating that your computer system is in danger and infected with malware, viruses, and adware, and states that it can scan your computer for you and show you what problems are identified.  Uninformed users who accept this scan are rewarded with a grossly inflated listing of files that are infected or considered ‘critical’ and dangerous to have on your computer system.  The sad truth is that many of these files are legitimate files that work with your Windows operating system.  If you were to remove any of these files, you could be setting up your system for a crash.

Additionally, Malware Bell will allow the security issues on your computer to remain unfixed, basically leaving the backdoor to your computer open.  This security issue lets Malware Bell download additional programs without your authorization, update and repair itself, make unauthorized changes to your browser settings, and slowly start to take over more and more functions of your computer system.  In essence, the fully licensed program acts like a ticking time bomb that will eventually freeze up your system beyond the point of repair.

Anytime you think your computer system may be infected with rogue anti-spyware programs like Malware Bell the best thing you can do is force the system to shut-down and then restart it in safe mode with network options so you can download a legitimate anti-spyware program, like, for example, ZookaWare PC Cleaner.  If you can still move around your system and download the program beforehand, do it, but do not actually install it until you put your computer into safe mode.  Rogue programs like Malware Bell will sometimes keep anti-spyware programs from installing properly if at all on your system.

Once you have your system in safe mode, install and run your legitimate anti-spyware program.  We recommend ZookaWare PC Cleaner because we know that it is current with all of the newest rogue software programs on the internet.  The report the legitimate anti-spyware program gives you will be the correct one and it will remove Malware Bell and any other adware, malware, and spyware programs that are infecting your system.  Once you have removed the rogue programs, run your anti-virus program – still in safe mode – to remove the virus the rogue software may have come in on.

These rogue programs are tricky in that they convince unsuspecting computer users into spending their money for a program that will simply screw up their computer and then give them no way to get their money back.  The best rule of thumb when working on a computer is to never click on a link or accept something that you do not recognize or know from previous use.  This is the fastest way these rogue programs get on your computer and they can be very difficult to get them back off.